Dining On Seven

Kelly Wearstler serves up a swank in-store restaurant at Bergdorf Goodman, New York

Aric Chen -- Interior Design, 4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

"Bergdorf Goodman isn't just for ladies who lunch anymore," declares It girl designer Kelly Wearstler. In recent years, the tony New York department store—purveyor to generations of well heeled ladies—has gone from fusty to fabulous. But despite the Fifth Avenue grande dame's storied past and various updates to the interiors of the stately 1928 building, a formal restaurant was nowhere to be found. So Bergdorf's asked Wearstler's firm, KWID, to design BG, a seventh-floor dining establishment for shoppers and power brokers in need of a mid-splurge bite or an après-spree cocktail.

According to Bergdorf's senior vice president Linda Fargo, who oversees fashion and in-store presentation, "Kelly has that rare ability to glamorize historical classics and give them modern appeal." (The name of Wearstler's first book says it all: Modern Glamour: The Art of Unexpected Style.) For Bergdorf's, she conjured up a playful elegance that, as Fargo puts it, is "part 1940's Park Avenue, part Hollywood Regency."

Given 2,000 square feet near the revamped home-furnishings department, Wearstler devised an enfilade of three "salons" overlooking Central Park. The first serves as a lounge, the second and third as dining rooms—all displaying her opulent yet contemporary sensibility.

To make the lounge airy and light, Wearstler installed bone-white faux boiserie with a diamond pattern in gold leaf and ebony paint. A bleached-oak floor and white silk valances coordinate with the pale walls. An eight-sided ceiling cove references Wearstler's octagonal BG logo, which appears on the front doors and many of the chair backs.

Lounge furniture takes its cues from the past. Flanking the entry, two French 1930's black-lacquered commodes are topped by matching 1970's black porcelain lamps. Paired by each window, tall canopy chairs upholstered in golden leather were inspired by a French 19th-century bergère. "They're like cocoons, so you don't feel too out in the open," Wearstler says. The bar's 10 brass stools are based on a vintage design. Deco-flavored leather-covered seating—bright-blue side chairs and a black sofa—gather around three small bronze tables with lattice bases.

Hanging in midair above the back of the black sofa, a pair of French 1960's abstract paintings are mounted back to back in a single frame—acting as a floating screen to separate the lounge from the main dining room. But Wearstler simultaneously bridged the separate spaces with her use of common elements and themes. In all three areas, bristling explosions of antiqued-bronze spines radiate from the ceiling. These sea-urchin light fixtures, Wearstler explains, are a way to "bring the organic inside."

Nature also appears in the form of water birds and tree blossoms on the hand-painted robin's-egg blue chinoiserie wallpaper of the main dining room. Here, a center row of tables is bookended by wait stations faced in antiqued mirror. Wearstler modeled the ladylike chairs at these central tables after a 1960's original, using chartreuse leather upholstery embroidered with the BG logo. Rows of tables on either side pull up to banquettes in powder-blue leather; facing the banquettes, parchment-painted chairs combine lattice backs and saber legs.

The far dining room, a cozier affair, can be closed off with blue silk curtains for private events. Chartreuse-lacquered paneling alternates with antiqued mirrors, and the plush carpet is striated in gold, black, and various neutrals. Wearstler designed a tall black-lacquered chinoiserie cabinet with mirrored doors to stand between the two windows on the back wall. Around the tables, she added the occasional white leather-upholstered wing chair to the lattice-back versions. "With all these crazy chairs, the restaurant feels very eclectic," she says.

Wearstler may have combined styles and eras with fearless élan, but she admits that the job was not without its hazards: "Just walking through the store, I'm sure I spent what I made—and beyond."

Opposite: Beneath an antiqued-bronze ceiling fixture inspired by a sea urchin, the lounge at BG mixes vintage and vintage-inspired furnishings, such as French 1930's lacquered commodes and custom brass stools.

Above: The store was built in 1928.

Top: BG's logo identifies the front doors, which open to the lounge. Suspended back to back above the custom leather-upholstered sofa, a pair of French 1960's paintings mark the boundary of the main dining room. Bottom: The main dining room's center row of tables terminates at a custom wait station faced in antiqued mirror.

Opposite: Paired by the lounge windows, custom canopy chairs were based on a French 19th-century bergère; they combine pickled-alder frames and leather upholstery.

Top: In the main dining room, the backs of custom leather-covered chairs are embroidered with the BG logo. Bottom: The private dining room features lacquered paneling and antiqued mirrors detailed with gold leaf and ebony paint.

PROJECT MANAGER: FRANK X. MEDRANO. PROJECT TEAM: PAULA MACHADO; DIANNE KRAUS; MELISSA BACOKA; TYLER KING. CUSTOM LAMP SHADES (LOUNGE): CARLS CUSTOM LAMPS SHADES. STOOL UPHOLSTERY: EDELMAN LEATHER. CUSTOM STOOLS, TABLES (LOUNGE), CUSTOM WAIT STATION (MAIN DINING), CUSTOM CEILING FIXTURES, SCONCES: JEAN DE MERRY. CUSTOM SOFA (LOUNGE), CUSTOM CABINET (PRIVATE DINING), CUSTOM CHAIRS: SUNVIEW FINISHING. WALLPAPER (MAIN DINING): DE GOURNAY. DRAPERY FABRIC (PRIVATE DINING): JIM THOMPSON. TRIM: HOULS. CUSTOM DRAPERY (PRIVATE DINING), CUSTOM VALANCES: CONTINENTAL UPHOLSTERY. SIDE-CHAIR, SOFA UPHOLSTERY: MOORE GILES. MILLWORK: ERIC CABINETS. LIGHTING CONSULTANT: VORTEX LIGHTING. ARCHITECT OF RECORD: BRIDGES + LAVIN ARCHITECTS. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: SWEET CONSTRUCTION CORP.